Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-18
A BIGAMIST WITH ONE WIFE.
A Case Stranger than Fiction and too
True for Comfort.

The vagaries of the laws pertaining to
marriage and divorce in the different States
and Territories, and the way in which they
conflict with each other have often been
pointed out. But the strangest comment
ary on the operation of the divorce law of
any State is given by a correspondent of
the World, of New York. He cites an ex-
ample of how citizen of the Empire State
may be bigamist, though he has but one
wife, and never had but one According
to his account, Charles Robinson and Janet
Reed, very respectable parties, possessing
considerable wealth, were duly married at
church in New York City some ten wears
ago. The husband was the buyer Tor
large hardware house and the wife
superintended the home. They lived
very happily together for some years.
and till a cousin and former lover
of the wife formed conspiracy with
some disreputable parties to prove that the
husband was guilty OF adultery. The tenn
porary absence of the husband in Germany
and Belgium afforded an opportunity for
working up the plot. The woman, beliey-
ing th.t she had been grossly wronged
obtained divorce, and her husband and
the former lover became close COMPANIONS.
While bathing together off Coney Island
they were carried out by the tide, and the
husband saved the cousins life at the risk
OF his own. The latter. however, was soon
attacked with sickness that proved fatal
On his deathbed he confessed all the de-
tails OF the conspiracy and caused the hus-
band and wife to be brought together. A
| reconciliation followed, and they were re-
| married, the second ceremony being per
formed in the same church, by the same
clergyman, and in the presence of the same
witness as was the first.
H. i
couple prospered in every way. They
moved in good society, accumulated large
property, and became the parents of two
promising children. One day, while at
tending to his business the husband was
stricken with apoplexy, and almost i'm
| mediately died. As he left no will. the
presumed widow applied for letters of ad-
ministratlon, but her petition was con-
| tested by son of a cousin of the deceased.
| who proceeded to show that Janet Robin
son, the petitioner, eight years before had
| obtained divorce from her husband,
Charles Robinson, on the ground of adul-
terry, and that, according to the laws of
the State, the latter, being the guilty party,
was forbidden to remarry. The Court de-
! clded that Mrs. Robinson had for many
| years been living in open adultery she be-
ing only a mistress, that her children
were illegitimate and that neither she
nor they had any legal claims to the es-
tate of the deceased.
The Door woman died from grief. One
of her children was taken sick, and. having
no means of support, was sent to the poor
| house. The other found employment as
grayedigger in the potter's field That the
| decision of the Judge in the case that
was presented to him was good law !" was
never questioned. He did not allow evil
dence of the second marriage to be pro-
duced in Court. This was an act of
mercy. Had the marriage been proven. it
would have been the duty of the prosecut-
ing attorney to have procured the indict-
ment of Mrs. Robinson for the crime of
bigamy, she having knowingly married
man " having a wife then living" The
punishment for this offense is fine of
81 900 and five years imprisonment.
Such cases as this may not often occur.
Public attention has, however, been called
to cases similar to the one here described
before. and it is likely to be called to Others
IN the future. A man may be married ~ in
the eyes of the law y in New York and
still have no wife. A woman may be mar
ried and still have no husband. A man
may be bigamist though he has but one
wife, and he may be no bigamist though he
contracts second marriage while his first
marital companion is still living. Before
parties enter into the holy estate>of mar
TTiiag2e in the Empire State thev wouII,a, 81, 81
well to study the statutes and carefully
read the reports of the Court of Appeals.
II they are not in a hurry to get married
and have the means to do so, they should
consult lawyer Chicago Tribune